Re-bloom of a mature plant bought in store ?

Begonia2005(7)November 4, 2012

I am curious to see pictures of re-blooms of a mature plant bought at the store. For example, if you ever bought one of those full-blooming, mature plants usually available at big box stores...and later you made it re-bloom successfully ...and you have any pics of re-blooms ...I would love to see them! Also...how old is the plant now ? Thanks so much!

Pictured is Optimara Susi, which I purchased full-grown and blooming from LOWES (Hardware store) at least (5) years ago.

The picture does not so justice to the success of this plant, if only because it is practically always in bloom.

My start with African Violets began with just such plants (purchased locally at groceries, hardware outlets, etc.). And I have been very successful at growing and re-blooming these plants.

As I have mentioned before, I tend not to buy at such outlets now because of the risk of contagion by AV pests (I've had to ditch entire collections because of mealy bug and/or thrips in the past). But the plants themselves are great growers/bloomers. I've some very nice ones.

There are some violets, however, which will grow best in your conditions ... if they are started young. Most of the retail outlet plants are not of this type, because they simply would not survive the experience if they were.

Continue to gain experience "growing" your violets. This will, ultimately, allow you to succeed with practically any violet you have the opportunity to acquire.

Very beautiful, aegis!
I am so glad that you can still get nice blooms after many years from the same plant.
When I heard that it is often best to re-start a plant after 1.5 years, I was a little disappointed...because it does take a very long time to get an AV to maturity from a little leaf. Plus I just love the idea of keeping a plant for all eternity if you can :-).

Granted, I did achieve my first such performance with a NOID from Pikes. :-)
I bought it in full bloom in August, it went through the buds initiated by the commercial grower...and then I disbudded all new buds coming up. I had to wait a little but in October it had new buds and now, at the beginning of November, it started to bloom quite well and it has a total of over 30 buds...lots of them due to open.

I am so proud of this one, I am about to burst at the seams. :-) I just hope I can keep it performing like this for a long time to come. This is the one that got powdery mildew but I have been using the Lysol wipes and I hope it will eventually clear up for good. A few days after the first Lyson wipes application, the spots came back again, but they were smaller and fewer. I will use them until it goes away altogether.

For whatever reason though, it stays lopsided. It was like that ever since I bought it. Then, when I thought the shorter leaves should be close to the window, I kept it like this for a while and the lopsidedness got even worse. Finally, after being advised that I should do the opposite - long leaves next to the window - I rotated, but the smaller ones are not growing/reaching towards the sun (maybe because they are under fluroescents too). Either way, I am glad it is re-blooming!

Just wanted to re-post a picture with how the successful store-bought AV is now. Unfortunately, a few spots of mildew keep resurfacing on the leaves after a week or so of wiping off with Lysol wipes. They only seem to work only SO well. Next time I am trying the milk thing.

In the meantime though the blooms look so beautiful. I am so proud of this AV because it is the first that re-bloomed with the same number of buds, if not more, that what I got it with at the store...
I was able to prove to myself that I CAN make them re-bloom just as nicely as they were in the store. :-)
I did dis-bud though.

Begonia - if the Powdery Mildew fungus already grew into the tissue of the leaf - you can as well just remove this leaf. All we do is preventative, not the cure. Your Lysol is not getting inside the leaf.

Unfortunately, lots of leaves have those mildew signs, not just one...and if I were to remove them all I am afraid I would get rid of most of the plant.

Between Lyson wiping off sessions, the plant looks indeed very pretty and very happy. I will just leave it like this until this beautiful generation of buds goes away and then I will remove more leaves and get the plant back to a smaller size. ut I really thought that when applying Lyson or any other remedy we're trying to get rid of the mildew, not to prevent future mildew.
The spots seem pretty superficial and like I said, when I wipe off with Lyson wipes, they go away and the plant looks perfect. But after a week or so other small spots reappear. ...